"Linux Gazette...making Linux just a little more fun!"

Announcements by Sun and Troll Tech

On December 8, Sun Microsystems made two announcements of interest
to the Linux community. One was the completion of the Linux port to the
UltraSPARC architecture; the other was the new, more open licensing of Java.

UltraSPARC

When Sun joined Linux International back in May, it was with the expressed
intention of joining the Linux community to do the UltraSPARC port. This
has now become a reality. In addition, they have announced their intention
to allow vendors to sell the UltraSPARC preloaded with Linux as well as
Solaris.

Every machine sold preloaded with Linux is another win for Linux. An even
bigger win is having yet one more of the ``big guys'' acknowledge that
computers with Linux pre-installed are more attractive to potential buyers,
especially those new to Linux. I for one am happy to see Sun following in the
footsteps of Corel Computer and Cobalt Networks in making this decision.

Java Licensing

The new, open licensing for Java has been speculated about for some time.
Will Sun make it open? If so, when? Well, they did it with this
announcement-another big win for the Open Source movement. Source
code has always been free for non-commercial use and the binaries have been
freely available for use in tools developed by others. Here's how it has
become more open, according to the press release:

Allows commercial entities to use and modify the source
code for commercial software product development without charge.

Allows innovation of the source code without
requiring that innovation be returned to Sun.

Allows commercial entities to modify and share
compatible source code with other commercial entities without charge
and without mediation from Sun.

These are major changes, but not quite the GPL. Developers who actually
incorporate the code into a commercial product will still be required to
pay a fee to Sun. Still, it's a step in the right direction and others are
sure to follow suit.

Troll Tech

In a similar vein, Troll Tech announced in November that it plans to
release version 2.0 of the Free Edition of the Qt graphical interface under
an Open Source license. This will eliminate any worries and controversy
regarding inclusion of the KDE desktop in commercial products.

Good news, indeed, to everyone who has wished for a user-friendly desktop for
Linux. KDE has come a long way toward providing that option for those who are
shy of the command line.